Xelerated Xpress

The Implications of Mobile Data Surpassing Voice

A very interesting milestone was recently reached.  As Ericsson reports, mobile data surpassed voice on a global basis in December 2009, Ericsson. This finding is based on Ericsson’s measurements on live networks covering all regions of the world.

So what implications will this have on 3G and 4G?  The most obvious is the demand for more bandwidth in the radio access network. It will have to be optimized for carrying data traffic. Voice services must be preserved, but data will dominate. And keep in mind that we are just in the early stages of the mobile data explosion.

Carriers have been trying to patch their networks in different ways to support more aggressive mobile data traffic volumes for some years now. Ethernet and circuit emulation in different variants have been introduced. Ethernet is a more high performance transport technology compared to ATM (AAL2 for voice and AAL5 for data). But carriers need rigorous synchronization schemes over Ethernet to make it work.  And there are other challenges like where to terminate legacy services and where to introduce the Ethernet ports? How can the new transport network comply to existing service provisioning schemes?

If the trends observed by Ericsson are correct, we are heading toward a data optimized radio access infrastructure faster than anyone expected. The Ethernet-based transport in the radio access network is needed to cope with the mobile data explosion. There are different attempts to solve this. We can learn from China Mobile’s PTN requirements which utilizes an Ethernet-based transport with synchronization support based on point-to-point (PTP) Ethernet. These networks are designed for data growth, but continue to support voice. And these requirements are here and now. They are designed for 2G, 3G and beyond.

by Thomas Eklund on Apr. 8th, 2010

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The Healthy Signs of Telecoms Going Mainstream

Another day here at Mobile World Congress, and I have noticed a strong shift in telecommunications  - the hype really is gone in the industry! We are going the same route as power generation and power supply did at the end of the ’90s, and now nobody in the general public knows what is going on in that industry.  That very same thing is now happening to telecoms.  While there is still a lot of good business to be made, there is less hype…  meaning less high-risk business endeavors, but more thought-through and sound business projects will prosper.  It is a healthy sign.

This year, the energy and activity level at Mobile World Congress has been far better compared to the two previous years’ events. A lot of ideas about sharing networks were shown both by service providers and vendors.  Huawei showcased the largest and widest portfolio and made a big impact with their lifetime cost approach. And NEC’s focus on cloud computing was impressive, expanding its concept to all types of customers/users and putting the operators in the central role.

Another thing that struck me about this year’s show is that there are not many Asian people in attendance. In particular, I did not find many of my Chinese industry colleagues.  This week was the Chinese New Year with the spring festival, which is comparable to having an event during the United States’ Thanks giving holiday.  Even still, there were several Asian companies participating and showing their goods, however few visitors from the region.

While previous Mobile World Congress events have been clogged with small startups trying to attract larger companies for M&A activities, this time it was far more companies aiming at building and growing on their own. Another very healthy sign.

by Anders Ericsson on Feb. 18th, 2010

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Trends at MWC – Cloud and OPEX

Another day here in Barcelona, and it’s interesting to see which trends are at the forefront at Mobile World Congress. App stores, mobile OS, cloud computing and power consumption are the significant trends this year, and while video on mobile was big last year, it seems to be on a significantly lower “gear” this time around.

Of course, a more dominant subject here at the show is LTE, however it is being talked about in a very broad context. And few are discussing how to become the most efficient bit-pipe provider (which must be the basis for all MNOs).

Another trend is that OPEX seems to be coming back after years of short-term focus on CAPEX.  And lastly, it is interesting to note that the representatives from the Asian markets air a much more positive vision of the future compared with the “old” world.

Stay tuned for more thoughts from the show floor…

by Anders Ericsson on Feb. 17th, 2010

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Closed or Open? Hot From the Floor at MWC

Mobile World Congress is a big, yet strange place. You have to pay to get access to different providers. But the really important players, you can’t access at all. A sign tells you ‘entry by invitation only’. I wonder how long that business approach will prevail?

Apple and Google are still perceived as the villains in the mobile market and both system vendors and operators seem more interested to fight them than to change with the new conditions. The real infrastructure challenge for the long and medium term – mobile backhaul – doesn’t trigger much interest here. There is a lot of buzz around cloud computing and SLAs, but the necessary connection to mobile backhaul is lacking.

After a quick walk around all booths, I found that the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries bring a fresh new perspective on telecommunications. They will soon have better infrastructure in populated areas compared to any country in the western world. Here is where the foundation for new ideas is being built, and here is where I expect a next wave of companies will emerge to take the lead in telecommunications.

And do I need to tell you that the doors to these companies are wide open for access?

by Anders Ericsson on Feb. 16th, 2010

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Gloomy Old OAM and Synchronization Turns Hot

When I started in this industry more than a decade ago, I couldn’t care less about OAM and synchronization. Sure, probably important, but I just let the SDH/Sonet guys worry about those things. The future was all about packets, higher bandwidth and great user experience.

Now, we packet guys have started to realize why OAM and synchronization are important areas. Lionel Florit, MEF technical committee member and technical lead at Cisco, captured this in today’s  sessions at the MPLS and Ethernet World Congress in Paris, when comparing a 15 year old Sonet chart on OAM with the IEEE 802.1ag standard chart for Carrier Ethernet. Indeed, very similar.

First conference day was really good. This Upperside event attracts all top system vendors and most speakers are experienced enough to bring some good meat to the discussion.  Stands are congested and the conference sessions well attended. Served with French food and wine, we get most of what is needed for a great industry event.

Interested in more snippets from the show? Please follow  http://twitter.com/perlembre

by Per Lembre on Feb. 11th, 2010

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Higher Synchronization Demands, Not Less

My colleague Tord Haulin gave me this brief summary of the synchronization demands as mobile backhaul networks goes packet. You can think of the demands as a three-step evolution:

1. Distribution of precise frequency

Requirement for e.g. WCDMA/UMTS transport equipment: 15 parts per billion (ppb)

This means: OK to deliver up to a dozen too many/too few clock cycles every day (for a 8kHz reference frequency).

2. Distribution of locked frequency with tight phase control

Requirement for e.g. Fixed WIMAX transport equipment 4.3 micro seconds

This means: The precise number of clock cycles has to be delivered every year. It is OK to lead or lag up to a dozen of degrees at any time (also for a 8kHz reference)

3. Distribution of time of day

Requirement for e.g. radio interface of CDMA/CDMA2000: 1 micro second.

This means: Time carrying signal cannot be sent more than 150 m without compensating for transport delay. That would be one city block(!) 

To measure time in distance of speed of light, and frequency wander in lost clock cycles, put the hard mobile infrastructure requirements on frequency, phase and time of day distribution into perspective. For those interested in more details, I recommend taking a look at Xelerated’s precision time solution white paper.

More on this topic will also be presented at the upcoming MPLS & Ethernet World Congress 2010 and Ethernet Wholesale Summit 2010 in Paris, February 9-12, 2010. Xelerated will be there as well as many of our industry peers.

Look forward to seeing you there!

by Per Lembre on Jan. 27th, 2010

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Dare to Share?

Investing in a new Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. When Telia lost the beauty competition for the 3G licences in Sweden for the period of 2001-2015, they decided to cooperate with Tele2 and formed a joint venture, Svenska UMTS-nät, for the 3G RAN network. The model has been copied in a few markets, like Norway, Austria and Australia. For the next generation 4G/LTE network, Tele2 is now cooperating with Telenor in a similar way to the joint venture Net4Mobility.

While there are technical constraints associated with not having full control of network resources, there is an obvious gain in cutting the investment costs in half. Most of the technical limitations are addressed as the technology matures. But the commercial aspect is harder to tackle. Sharing the complete radio network makes differentiation very hard.

This is a multi-billion dollar question, and the jury doesn’t seem to have reached their verdict. Yet.

by Per Lembre on Jan. 19th, 2010

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Fixing the Mobile Backhaul Flat Tire

It looks like Carrier Ethernet in mobile backhaul is generating a lot of debate at networking seminars and shows these days.  More precisely, the debate is centered around packet-based flexible and reliable synchronization solutions.

At this week’s  Ethernet Expo, Light Reading’s Craig Matsumoto, noted mobile operators are not yet confident about the solutions. PTP and Synchronous Ethernet are new technologies, and therefore there is limited experience and know how on how to operate these technologies. But if we don’t fix it, we will remain dependent on other means of delivering synchronization to the base stations, typically by keeping legacy E1/T1/J1 to each site. And being dependent on legacy technology to roll-out the latest and greatest technology is a pretty strong limitation. As Matsumoto puts it:

“It is like having a nearly-flat tire on your car. You can drive that way. But you be best advised to fix it right away.”

At Xelerated we don’t like flat tires. This week, we announced our Precision Time Solution, which you can read about here at Converge Network Digest. Given the amount of interest among our customers, I’m confident that this problem will be fixed in next-generation Carrier Ethernet platforms.

So service providers, expect to have fresh tires when taking the next corner. No need to ease the gas pedal!

by Per Lembre on Nov. 9th, 2009

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Excuse Me, What is the Time (Solution)?

Today my colleague, Tord Haulin, and I participated in a Packet Synchronization seminar arranged by Chronos and its partners, primarily U.S.-based Symmetricom. Being players in the timing distribution world, they have spent a few years now preserving synchronization during the packet migration for mobile backhaul. So what are they saying, and what response did they get from the Swedish operators? Here are a few of my reflections:

• Synchronous Ethernet and PTP are the standards gaining a lot of momentum, and all players are eagerly putting support for these on to their products. (Yes, Xelerated is one of them.)
• There is no need to bet on which of these technologies will actually will become most popular. As some of the big fives in Europe have backed Synchronous Ethernet, it is likely it will find its way to the market. One of the comments at the break was that BT is planning to use Synchronous Ethernet in Open Reach, the UK model for local loop undbundling. If this is the case, all major vendors must support it. And PTP is already in trials with a number of operators.
• PTP v2/2008 is likely to be rolled out in trials with limited on-path support. I see this as an interim solution, while waiting for switch and router vendors to support PTP in hardware. At that point, not too far away, the technology has the scale and reach to depend upon for synchronization services.
• Operators are actively looking for a solution that allows them to can their TDM synchronization services. The pace of adoption will vary widely of course. Expect alternate providers to pave the way.
• Time stamping in hardware is being asked for not only for synchronization services, but also for performance monitoring. I will revisit this area, but as a general point, it is obvious for anyone that router and switch vendors have been getting away with limited capabilities in this area. Integrated probe functionalities have been more of a tick in the box, and haven’t propelled up to the show stopper level in the technical evaluation processes. This is about to change.

There was a good mix of people at the seminar – some representing the vendor side and an equal share from the larger Swedish operators. Notably most of them haven’t been focusing on synchronization for the last ten years, but are now actively getting their heads around the strategies for years to come. Packet technologists and TDM architects are now coming together.  And in a few years, we will know the outcome.

by Per Lembre on Oct. 6th, 2009

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Mobile Operators Stress About Bandwidth Growth

Reuters today published an article which captures the stress mobile operators are undergoing with Laptop dongles and the iPhone driving bandwidth requirements to completely new levels. A series of good examples is provided from different parts of the world. To understand the scope here, French operator, SFR, tells us that laptops connected to the mobile network drive 450 times (!) more traffic than a classic mobile phone. Another example is given from the Australian operator, Telstra. The day Michael Jackson died, there was a 170 percent increase in mobile traffic.

The article puts the spotlight on one of the biggest industry challenges that lies ahead. With a flat rate business model, how do Mobile Operators cope with providing competitive mobile broadband services and still earn a fair amount of money? Learning from the fixed broadband evolution, there are a few fundamental network design principles to keep in mind.

1. Leverage Carrier Ethernet technologies to provide high bandwidth at low cost
2. Keep it “as simple as possible…but no simpler” (lending a qoute from Einstein here)
3. Look to increase the lifetime of the equipment to support a greater business case

Xelerated technology can be used to empower mobile backhaul networks to enable huge data growth. Some of the new platforms designed for mobile backhaul look closely at how to aggressively bring down cost while providing traffic management for committed and exessive data rates as well as preserving synchronization services for the base stations.

Mobile operators need these platforms, and are becoming more and more stressed about the situation. As Esa Rautalinko, who heads TeliaSonera’s mobile network in Finland (TLSN.ST), states:  “We are closer and closer to a situation where we reach the limits of our capacity”.

by Per Lembre on Sep. 30th, 2009

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